This book examines the major rural developments and the issues that policy makers have been dealing with across the OECD over the last two decades.  The OECD Conference, held in Siena, Italy, in July 2002, on the Future of Rural Policy, identified the need for rural policies to look beyond agriculture and offer new trajectories of development.  It concluded that the major shift necessary to guarantee the future vitality of rural regions is the diversification of their economies.  The papers examine key critical issues, including the EU LEADER Community Initiative and the Mexican Micro-region programme and provide a new approach that recognises the importance of the interdependence between rural and urban areas, fostering investment (rather than distributing subsidies).  This approach also emphasises governance structures that get the locals involved in grass root initiatives to develop and implement new policies.  This book is for practitioners and policy makers involved in grass root policies.